Corporations and Groups

Corporation and Group PR

A large company is constituted of at least 500 employees and has an annual turnover of at least €50bn, according to the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM), a Bonn-based research institute on Germany’s small and medium-sized businesses, collectively known as the Mittelstand. A group consists in one or more independent companies who unite under the leadership of one company. Members are referred to individually as group companies.

Industrie-Contact has worked for large companies, groups as well as group companies. This includes Beiersdorf, 3M, Solvay, Novartis, Pentax, Reckitt & Benkiser, Finnair, Neste Oil, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Dallas / Forth Worth Airport, Manpower, EulerHermes, Yamaha Music and Universal Music.

PR for large companies and groups vs PR for SMEs: it’s a whole different ball game

Industrie-Contact has acquired considerable experience in PR for large companies and groups. PR work for large companies differs from PR for SMEs, partly because decision-making generally takes more time in large companies. Having to deal with the press, product management, scientific, the research and development and legal departments of a large company is quite common.

Moreover, internal policy decisions often play a significant role in large companies and groups. Messaging is subject to very clear requirements which must be strictly observed in the press work. SMEs, however, have a much more relaxed attitude on the whole.

Large press departments often outsource subtasks

In large companies and groups, the press department is often divided in the categories “Business PR ” and “Product PR”. Since many large companies are also publicly listed, they are subjected to very strict company communication rules. Agencies working for such companies are expected to comply with those rules.

In Product PR, the aim is to deliver a perfectly-worded product description in coordination with the product management, R&D and scientific departments.

But completing those formalities is not enough: the press release must then be complemented with a hook and formulated to be more reader-friendly. For an agency, this is an chance to shine. A good agency always has useful media contacts at its disposal. As some groups write their own press releases –therefore not needing the help of PR agencies in that area– an agency’s greatest asset sometimes lies in its media contacts.

Media contacts and hooks are (almost) everything

Industrie-Contact has accomplished successful PR work for Beiersdorf-owned cosmetics brand Eucerin for over 20 years.

For Beiersdorf, we organized meetings with pharmacy technicians, as well as press conferences. Once more, our job was to create interesting hooks to spark media curiosity and draw journalists in. We have met great success throughout those 20 years of live communication.